Licensing of Health Care Professionals From a Biblical Perspective

Licensing is a large and growing governmental activity. The array of licensed occupations includes alligator hunters, quail breeders, physicians, astrologers, lawyers, photographers, psychologists and rainmakers. The number of professional groups seeking licensure status grows yearly. 1,2 About ten percent of the American national income is earned by licensed individuals. ' Once established, licensing laws are rarely removed from the statute books. State professional associations lobby strongly for establishing and maintaining licensing laws to "protect the public " despite the lack of experimental data relating licensing to increased competence or public safety.1-5 Indeed, Stanley Gross declares in his review that "the evidence reveals licensing to be a mystifying arrangement tha